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Thread: help me decide a DOS pc motherboard

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    Pear (Level 6) Soviet Conscript's Avatar
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    Default help me decide a DOS pc motherboard

    well been wanting to build a pure DOS pc for awhile now and i picked up a case and most of the other stuff today. only issue is i can't decide on which one of the 2 motherboards i have so i was looking for some advice. i really want this to be a very late 80's to mid 90's machine. so def pre win95 (already have a dedicated pc for that time period

    i'm useing a 200mhz mmx intel but i've been thinking that may be to fast. would it be worth the effort to downgrade to a 120 pent or lower?

    the 2 motherboards both socket 7 i have are

    PA-2013
    this ones nice because it already come with things like the connections for the PS/2 mouse and keyboard. the main thing with useing this is the pure convience for me
    1 agp slot (i don't intend to use this)
    2 ISA slots
    4 PCI slots

    Asus VX97
    i've been told this is a superior MB but it presents a few issues,. for one it only has a connector for a 5 pin keyboad. everything else i'll have to buy and add on. it also uses a AT power supply which i do not have, thus more stuff to buy
    4 ISA slots
    4 PCI slots

    i really like how the ASUS has 4 ISA slots but the more i think about it will i really need more then 2? i wanted to def do the soundcard ISA since i already have a sound blaster 16 but i figured i would go PCI for the video card (dos supports pci with no problems right?)

    i've never acually used DOS to much so i'm really almost a total noob when it comes to dos but i do intend to learn.

    any suggestions are appriciated.

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    ServBot (Level 11) aaron7's Avatar
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    Neither. If it's strictly DOS I'd go with a 486. Much more period-correct.

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    Apple (Level 5) Arkhan's Avatar
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    yeah if you're goin DOS, you want yourself a nice 486.

    and if you can get the computer to run Ultima VII and VIII, then you can get it to run anything.
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    ServBot (Level 11) aaron7's Avatar
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    Cherry (Level 1) phreakindee's Avatar
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    For pure DOS for the time period, definitely a 486. Pretty much any Pentium is overkill. 16MB of ram and DOS 5 or 6 is all I have ever needed and is what I use on my machines for that time. Usually what I do is find a gutted machine of the time with the processor I want and go from there. It is often cheaper that way too.
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    Pear (Level 6) Soviet Conscript's Avatar
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    hmmm, well then i mays well just throw together what i have now and see how far i get with that and stock up on what i need for a 486 setup.

    the only concern i have for a 486 is the later DOS games such as daggerdall, spacequest 5, 6 and things of that nature. but then again i could always use this 200mhtz pc for that.

    DOS runs pci cards fine though correct? am i really going to need anything other then a soundcard and a graphics adaptor card wise?

    thanks for the advice guys. always appriciated.

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    Red (Level 21) Jorpho's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soviet Conscript View Post
    the main thing with useing this is the pure convience for me
    Then that is what you should use. "Period correctness" is meaningless if it's a machine that's too cumbersome to bother with. Adding a PS/2 mouse port isn't nearly as easy as it sounds.

    I likewise disagree that a 486 is absolutely the way to go. The ideal would actually be a fast 486 or Pentium with a turbo button, but you should easily be able to use a slowdown program (or BIOS trickery) to run programs for which a 200 MHz Pentium is too fast. It is good to have that speed available to you when you need it.

    And yes, a PCI video card will work just fine from DOS, and so will an AGP card! The only thing you really have to worry about as far as DOS programs are concerned is VESA compatibility, which isn't much of an issue.
    "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)

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    Apple (Level 5) Arkhan's Avatar
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    daggerfall requires at least a Pentium ..90...? Yeah , P90

    You're at a bit of an impasse. Tons of games are 486 designed, and then some you want are Pentium......

    so you can either setup a 486 and not get to play some stuff, or setup what you got already and use Mo'Slo where needed.


    games like Ultima V and VI are going to run like they are on coke. Mo'Slo is your friend.
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    Cherry (Level 1) phreakindee's Avatar
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    Mo'slo is indeed one solution, but to me it's like slowing down a Corvette by coating it in molasses and honey. It'll do the job, but depending how slow you need you often just get a sticky, uneven result.

    I never use Mo'slo anymore because I nearly always get skipping or stuttering gameplay, and sound is especially screwed up then too. To me, it's unplayable.
    PC Game Collector - DOS and beyond

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    Red (Level 21) Jorpho's Avatar
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    Like I said, there's some BIOS trickery that can be used as an alternative to MoSlo. It might let you set the processor clock multiplier, for instance (instead of requiring you to fiddle with jumpers on the motherboard), or disable processor cache.
    "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)

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    Apple (Level 5) Arkhan's Avatar
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    mo'slo seems to only do good for games of the pre-eyecandy era

    like Ultima III, etc.

    though most ultima's have been patched and tweaked nowadays

    I still think if convenience is your goal, just use frikkin' DOSbox. Hell it might even run on that 200mhz computer
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    Pear (Level 6) Soviet Conscript's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arkhan View Post
    mo'slo seems to only do good for games of the pre-eyecandy era

    like Ultima III, etc.

    though most ultima's have been patched and tweaked nowadays

    I still think if convenience is your goal, just use frikkin' DOSbox. Hell it might even run on that 200mhz computer
    ah...no dosbox, i can do that on my modern pc if i wanted to go that route.

    i just ment convience by if i have these 2 computers from around roughly the same time period and abilities i would rather put the one together thats easier rather then track down an AT power supply and all the ports for the mouse and whatnot

    annoying thing is the PA-2013 MB thats the more convient one came with a socket 7
    400 mhtz AMD. when i take the intell 200mhtz mmx out of the ASUS board and put it in the PA-2013 MB it will not work. it powers on but thats it.

    i'm guessing this has to do with jumper settings on the MB that have to be fiddeled with now? i tried messing with those according to the manual i found online but no effect so maybe i have to play with the voltage jumper settings now?

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    ServBot (Level 11) aaron7's Avatar
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    Uhh.. yah. The AMD K6-2 and the Intel Pentium have very different voltage settings.

    Look up your CPU and see what it takes. Might have already cooked it though.

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    Pear (Level 6) Soviet Conscript's Avatar
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    the MB? i already switched the chips back and it runs fine with the AMD.

    oh well, like i said i know nothing about really old PC's. i used a c64 and an Amiga back in the early 90's.

    seeing as the intel ran me like $2 i'm not to concerned if its dead

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    Pear (Level 6) Soviet Conscript's Avatar
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    well, fiddeled with the voltage jumpers acording to the MB manual i found online and got the intel chip to run so thankfully it wasn't fried

    funny thing is its running at 250Mhtz acording to the startup screen. i checked and confirmed its a 200mhtz chip which means its being overclocked?

    lol, just the opposite of what i wanted to do. oh well. tried fiddeling with the jumper settings but no effect. the layout from the manual is slightly diffrent from my MB so i probibly have a diffrent revision but i can't find any indication of the rev. #

    i think i'll take the advice here and keep on the lookout for a nice 486 setup

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    Apple (Level 5) Arkhan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soviet Conscript View Post

    i think i'll take the advice here and keep on the lookout for a nice 486 setup
    daggerfall requires pentium powa!
    Aetherbyte: PC-Engine and more homebrew

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    Pear (Level 6) Soviet Conscript's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arkhan View Post
    daggerfall requires pentium powa!
    yhea. but i just got daggerfall working fine on my other newer pc anyways. i'm probibly just going to use this machine for those games that either do not run or run bad natively on my win machines. elder scrolls: arena and stonekeep are two games for example i never was able to get running on any of my windows machines without the aid of dosbox and even then it was some work to get them running somewhat close to normal

    i'll probibly throw together a 486 setup just for the hell of it for the really old dos stuff. but it will probibly just be one of those deals if i see one really cheap at a flea market or something

    on the issue of this 200mhtz cpu running at 250. it gets very hot for the few times i test ran it. were talking under a minute and its ouch to the touch hot. think it will be ok after a heatsink/fan or should i just hold off on it.

    its funny you mentioned Ultima VIII earlier. my first pc was a AST pentium 133 and ultima VIII was one of the first games i bought for it. i couldn't get it to run under win 95. i knew absolutely nothing about pc's at the time but somehow i went into the dos editor and changed something and it worked fine ever since then. i still have no idea how i got that game to work.
    Last edited by Soviet Conscript; 12-08-2009 at 02:18 AM.

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    Apple (Level 5) Arkhan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soviet Conscript View Post

    on the issue of this 200mhtz cpu running at 250. it gets very hot for the few times i test ran it. were talking under a minute and its ouch to the touch hot. think it will be ok after a heatsink/fan or should i just hold off on it.
    overclocking a 200mhz cpu is like dropping a V8 in a go-kart and wondering why you're a quadriplegic.
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    drowning in medals Ed Oscuro's Avatar
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    Moslo has gottrn better over time, and has some less CPU-baking ways of slowing instruction speed.

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    Red (Level 21) Jorpho's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Soviet Conscript View Post
    yhea. but i just got daggerfall working fine on my other newer pc anyways.
    Oh, but that would be an impure, unauthentic experience!!! We can't have that, can we?

    elder scrolls: arena and stonekeep are two games for example i never was able to get running on any of my windows machines without the aid of dosbox and even then it was some work to get them running somewhat close to normal
    Yes, I'm sure you'll be able to get them running on an older machine just perfectly and without any effort at all!

    think it will be ok after a heatsink/fan or should i just hold off on it.
    You're really, really not supposed to run these things without some kind of fan/heatsink.
    "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." --Bertrand Russel (attributed)

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